In the late 1970s, we'd do anything to stop the "red menace," so President Carter armed anti-Soviet forces fighting in Afghanistan. Then those forces, who have morphed into the Taliban, won the war, and also made a friendly home for their ally, al-Qaida.

President Reagan wanted to free hostages in Iran and stop the "red menace" in Nicaragua, so he traded arms with Iran. That freed the hostages and provided Soviet arms for the contras. Then we made deals with cocaine smugglers to get the arms into Nicaragua. The smugglers helped create the crack epidemic.

Let's move ahead a number of years and go back to Afghanistan, where al-Qaida plots to attack the United States and blows up the World Trade Center. So, President Bush invades, using a brilliant strategy of partnering with warlords, to score an easy win. Shock of shocks, the warlords are corrupt poppy growers who only wanted to be free to flood the West with heroin. With our support, they have succeeded.

Now comes President Obama. Proving that he is spiritually un-American, he learns from our past mistakes. He doesn't support al-Qaida in Syria. He avoids military involvement in Ukraine. Obviously, he is "weak," destroying America's place in history. Where will the next foreign war come from?

At least our leaders are ignoring the lessons from the great "war on drugs." We make great inroads against heroin through the proven policy of criminalizing our problems. Let's celebrate victory. American exceptionalism in this case means we lead the world in gun violence and prisons.

Jeffrey Lischin

Passaic, June 4

Underpass woes

in Ridgewood

Ridgewood's underpass brouhaha won't be over until it's over.

Meanwhile, the question is how to go under.

We're assured that a full complement of staff professionals worked on this plan for years and the council approved it unanimously. Responding to public outcry, however, the council quickly agreed to demolish 800 to 900 feet of just-poured curbing to halve the center divider's width from eight feet to four feet. Previously it was 3.5 feet. That enables two driving lanes to be restored later, if desired.

Good, but what a waste. And aren't the bicycle lanes why the village got a $146,500 grant under the state's "Complete Streets" program. Would removing them forfeit the grant?

Since a narrow median can't support trees, wood chips or gardeners, it will be "hardscaped," not landscaped. That's okay, said new Village Manager Roberta Sonenfeld, because the median plantings on Grove Street have gone to weeds anyway. Moreover, the $5,000 "saved" on trees and $20,000 "saved" on an irrigation system can go toward the $45,000 needed to replace the new curbing.

Communications were inadequate, admitted Sonenfeld. Residents who instantly saw the plan as untenable would have weighed in long ago had they been informed.

During World War II, my father worked with Army traffic in Europe. Pins were stuck into road maps with different pin colors representing the number and extent of accidents at intersections. Where "too many" deaths were tallied, someone was sent to direct traffic.